LETTERS

Faculty to Zimmer: Do More to Protect Undocumented Students

The following letter was sent to Provost Diermeier and President Zimmer on December 1 with 386 faculty signees. It is also viewable here, where it can be signed by all members of the University of Chicago community.

“From time to time instances will arise in which the society, or segments of it, threaten the very mission of the university and its values of free inquiry. In such a crisis, it becomes the obligation of the university as an institution to oppose such measures and actively to defend its interests and its values.”

—Report on the University’s Role in Social and Political Action, the Kalven Committee, November 11, 1967

Dear Provost Diermeier and President Zimmer,

We, the undersigned faculty, write you to offer concrete proposals toward fulfilling your and the University’s stated commitment to our undocumented students. We are alarmed by President-elect Donald Trump’s declared intention to implement policies that threaten the civil rights and well-being of members of our community. We believe that the University has a clear responsibility in these urgent circumstances. As one of the country’s premier research universities with a large and diverse student body, and with a history of offering support and refuge to members of persecuted minority groups, we hope that the University of Chicago can take a leading role in opposing the measures promised by President-elect Donald Trump and actively defend this institution’s core interests and values.

While we applaud the measures you have committed to in your e-mail of November 18, and while we were heartened to hear that President Zimmer has joined more than 350 other university presidents in protest of potential changes to DACA, we call upon the University to be proactive in opposing President-elect Trump’s proposed immigration policies and countering their potential effects on this campus community. We believe it is necessary to take concrete steps in order to live up to the administration’s recent efforts to assess and improve the campus climate with respect to issues of difference, diversity, and discrimination.

As you know, President-elect Trump has said he will cancel DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which President Obama issued as an executive order in 2012. DACA gives provisional relief from deportation to undocumented persons who arrived as children in the US after 1981, affording them work authorization, and allowing them to apply for Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and driver’s licenses. If President Trump cancels DACA, he will strip members of our community of these protections. They will lose fellowships and stipends, their jobs and their right to work, and they and their families will be at risk of deportation.

The psychological and social toll of these xenophobic policy proposals is already being felt campus-wide. The impending changes to immigration policy, together with the political and institutional legitimation of bigotry following the election of Donald Trump, has fostered a climate of uncertainty, fear, and distress in our community. Indeed, at a November 14 press conference with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the President of Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital described Trump’s immigration policies as provoking “a public health crisis,” and cited a 200 percent increase in calls to mental health hotlines in the state of Illinois.

Affected students at this institution have alerted us to the immediate financial, legal, and emotional pressures they face. These conversations inform the following points, which we request the University address before the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017:

Financial Support

As you note in your November 18 letter, “the University uses private funds to meet the full demonstrated financial needs of undocumented students in the College.” We call on the administration to affirm its commitment to continuing this policy if DACA is cancelled, and to recalculate students’ financial need if they lose work authorization.

Students have brought to our attention that this policy of providing private funds does not currently uniformly cover students in graduate and professional programs. We were glad to see your commitment to “raising more private funds for financial aid to assist international and undocumented students in the College and throughout the University.” However, we request that you go a step further and guarantee the full cost of attendance (including health coverage) for affected students at all levels of study and across the divisions and units of the University.

In the event of DACA cancellation, we ask that the University provide loan forgiveness for students whose immigration status—and therefore work authorization—has been altered.

Legal Services

We request that the University ensure that undocumented and international students and staff, including staff employed through subcontractors (security, custodial, food services), have access to immigration counsel. These legal services should be provided at no cost to students or staff through partnerships with law firms or nonprofit legal services providers. The legal services should include comprehensive screening, counseling and representation, and should be provided off-campus in order to ensure confidentiality. We ask that these resources also be available to the family members of students and staff.

The University must refuse all requests for cooperation on immigration enforcement actions undertaken by ICE and CBP. The University must reject all information-sharing requests from ICE and CBP, and refuse their representatives access to University property for the purpose of immigration enforcement actions to the fullest extent permitted by the law. The University should state publicly its intention to decline all requests for voluntary cooperation by ICE and CBP.

The University must unequivocally prohibit UCPD from querying or documenting any individual’s immigration status, enforcing or attempting to enforce immigration laws, or engaging in joint enforcement actions with ICE/CBP. The University should communicate this policy to students, staff, and the community.

The administration is uniquely able to communicate with the entire campus community: therefore it is incumbent upon it to disseminate information to all students, staff, and faculty about basic rights and constitutional protections afforded all persons, regardless of immigration status (e.g. training sessions, “know-your-rights” cards, online resources).

Campus Climate and Mental Health

Campus mental health services are overburdened, and overlong wait times for counseling are only likely to increase given the potential mental health consequences of the current political environment. We request an increase in the number of counselors to support undocumented students and students protected by DACA, as well as other students in need of services. We also request that the hours of operation of the counseling center be expanded to better accommodate schedules.

We request that the administration provide training for staff members, in order to promote better understanding of current student concerns and anxiety, and to provide culturally sensitive therapy, including for individuals who hold more than one marginalized identity (LGBTQ+, Muslim, and undocumented etc.). Specifically, staff members should:

*have an understanding of and competently address concerns related to racial profiling and hate crimes, including information about where to report such activity;

*be knowledgeable about basic immigration law and policy changes, and be skilled at providing appropriate referrals when information is lacking;

*be knowledgeable about the material consequences that individuals are fearful of, including detention and deportation, lost employment and earnings, and economic insecurity;

*be prepared to treat the mental health consequences that may affect students who are uncertain of their and their loved ones’ status and future in the current climate.

At the present moment, silence, indifference, and inaction with respect to federal immigration policy represent a pronounced political position that contradicts the University of Chicago’s previously articulated principles as an institution. In his August 26 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, for instance, President Zimmer wrote that “the purpose of a university education is to provide the critical pathway by which students can fulfill their potential, change the trajectory of their families, and build healthier and more inclusive societies.” The fulfillment of this purpose is currently under severe threat, and we reiterate the need for the administration to act swiftly, concretely and deliberately in response to the points outlined in this letter. We request that this process be conducted transparently and in consultation with the University community.